[url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19836601/site/newsweek/]An Ugly World: Michael Vick’s indictment on dogfighting charges has brought the cruel activity into the headlines this week. But animal-rights activists say the practice is nothing new, and is, in fact, growing in popularity.
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Along with all the rest of the cruel and ugly things that are happening in our society, the dogfighting activity has caught the media's attention for a nanosecond this week. Looks like the Atlanta Falcons player/MONSTER can't be satisfied with all the physical contact he gets to make as a football player, he's now been indicted on dogfighting charges. Real hero...real role model...yeah, right!

The operation was named “Bad Newz Kennels,” according to the indictment, and the dogs were housed, trained and fought at a property owned by Vick in Surry County, Va.

Conviction carries up to six years in prison, fines of $350,000 and restitution.

Among the grisly findings: Losing dogs either died in the pit or were electrocuted, drowned, hanged or shot. The indictment said purses climbed as high as $20,000 for fights.

Those and other allegations of animal abuse have already put Vick squarely in the center of strong and divided reaction.

In Atlanta, where Vick’s name dwarfs all others in pro sports, about 46 percent of respondents in an overnight telephone poll conducted by Atlanta-based InsiderAdvantage think the Falcons should release Vick. About the same percentage said the team should keep him until a verdict is returned. About 8 percent of the 859 people polled had no opinion. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Two dogs are placed in a pit and turned loose--turned loose--against each other. How inhuman, how cannibalistic, how sadistic. Let me read that again.

Two dogs--God created the dog to be man's companion--two dogs are placed in a pit--think of that--placed in a pit and turned loose against each other. And get this: the fight can go on for hours. The fight can go on for hours. Do you hear me? The fight can go on for hours. The poor dogs literally bite and rip the flesh off one another, and bets as high as $50,000 are placed.

The brutality goes on until one of the poor dogs is seriously injured or killed. So the poor dog died--died. The dog died. And for that reason, dog fighting is regarded as a blood sport. A blood sport. While bloody, Madam President, it is hardly a sport. Hardly a sport.

It is a brutal, sadistic event motivated by barbarism of the worst sort and cruelty of the worst sadistic kind. One is left wondering: who are the real animals--the creatures inside the ring or the creatures outside the ring?

I can remember a time when barbarism of this nature usually involved only the ignorant poor, the psychotically cruel who had lots of money and power, (but even they didn't want to get caught,) and those on the extreme lower echelons of society.

Now, we're becoming more and more proud of being more and more shameful and cruel. Nobody is held accountable for wrongs and cruel actions they do to other living things.

How about putting Vick into a pit with another professional football player his size and letting them fight to the death? What would be his reaction if it was ruled that the next time he and his team lost a ballgame, they'd be either hanged, electrocuted, drowned, or shot?

Sen Byrd is a very courageous man. I wonder if other Senators cared enough to make a speech about the foulness of these types of blood sports.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

But his sport alone does is not the only ing thing done with violent dogs.

CNN had this feature about how people used hunting dogs to chase down caged feral pigs. It was a gruesome rodeo of sorts.

What's interesting is that the dog fighting thing is a crime a people run it illicitly. But the feral pig sport is looked upon as a good thing. And there's groups that are actively trying to make the sport more acceptable.

What's wrong with our society, where these types of animal cruelty are considered cool?

Around here, it's bear hunting...one of the most cruel sports that is considered "manly" and "real sporty." But even deer hunters don't like the bear hunters...they're the bottom feeders because they let the dogs do all the dirty work. They slap radios around the dogs' necks. The bear "hunters" will stay by their vehicles and listen to the dogs' progress in their quest for a bear. A friend of mine is a vet, and he says the dogs used in this "sport" are often cruelly mangled.

Look at wrestling...it's becoming more and more violent and the adverts for it often show the "victor" with blood on his face and body. But at least in this dispicable sport, it's only humans that are supposedly hurting each other. Of course, most wrestling is fake but it still gets the "fans" going! Then there are the rodeos and dog-racing. We have several friends who have greyhounds that have been rescued from certain death because they didn't perform well in that sport.

And then we wonder why a president who used to blow up frogs with firecrackers has no conscience and doesn't particularly care how many people he kills. It's a known fact that many children who torture and kill animals grow up to become psychotic killers.

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman